What is Digg?1 Comments
- shefftim, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Does rate of GW slowing?
Unfortunately no:
A more detailed report on this is here:
"The team found that anthropogenic methane emissions began to increase in 1999, especially in northern Asia, probably a result of the fierce pace of growth of China's economy. Meanwhile, natural methane emissions from wetlands around the world declined by 5 to 20 teragrams between 1999 and 2003, somewhat offsetting China's contribution. The results suggest that when the global drying trend is reversed, atmospheric methane levels will increase again, exacerbating global warming.
The biggest concern is what might happen in the Arctic, says co-author Ed Dlugokencky, a research chemist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado. As permafrost gets warmer, it could become wetlands. This would release large amounts of additional CO2 and methane and further drive warming trends, the team reports in Nature."
http://www.playfuls.com/news_002323_Methane_Could_Accelerate_Global_Warming_After_Slowdown.html
Methane emissions slowed down due to wetlands drying out due to hotter, warmer weather. Unfortunately they’re on the increase due to a rise in industrial emissions, by China in particular and, more worryingly, from the thawing permafrost in the Arctic circle. Siberia, Alaska etc.
Methane emissions soar as China booms. Sept 2006.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1768827.ece
Greenhouse Gas Bubbling from Melting Permafrost
http://www.physorg.com/news76777896.html
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Additional info for the interested:
Methane basic chemisty
http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/methane/methane.html
Chemisty of methane clathrate (also called methane hydrate or methane ice)
http://ethomas.web.wesleyan.edu/ees123/clathrate.htm
NASA : Methane’s role in the atmosphere
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/features/methane/
History of discovery of Methane’s role as a Greenhouse Gas
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/othergas.htm
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